I was standing in the marble, columned portico of the Kandahar governor's palace when three rough-looking characters made their way across the neatly manicured lawn. These guys had the look, if there is any such thing as a Taliban look...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The loss of a not-so secret base in Dubai last year forced the Canadian military to use its unarmed Airbus planes for flights into Kandahar Airfield during the final phase of the combat mission, ministerial briefing notes say.

"Pressures imposed by the closure of Camp Mirage and the need to maximize flexibility in providing strategic airlift to support OP Athena have culminated in the (censored) using C-150 flights in KAF," said a Nov. 1, 2010, briefing note prepared for Defence Minister Peter MacKay.